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November 13, 2008
Willets Point Project Foes Reach Deal With the City
The New York Times
by Fernanda Santos
Two of the leading opponents of the Willets Point redevelopment project in Queens came out in favor of the plan on Wednesday, after they reached a critical deal with the city over the number of homes for low-income families that will be built at the site.
The agreement calls for more than 800 homes for families earning less than $38,400 a year and essentially paves the way for the project’s approval by the City Council on Thursday. The agreement is a major political victory for one of the opponents, Councilman Hiram Monserrate, and for the Bloomberg administration, which spent considerable time and money in recent weeks to arrange support for the plan.
“This is a project for the people,” said Councilman Monserrate, who represents a district that includes Willets Point, a 62-acre expanse of auto body shops, junkyards and manufacturers on unpaved roads near Shea Stadium. “Everybody wins,” he said.
...The agreement was announced on Wednesday at a news conference at City Hall that brought together what days ago would have been an improbable cast of allies.
On hand were Mr. Monserrate and Bertha Lewis, chief organizer of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn, which Mr. Monserrate had enlisted in opposing the project’s housing levels and the city’s plan to take over privately owned property by eminent domain. At their side were Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the city’s deputy mayor for economic development, Robert C. Lieber, who worked late into the night on Tuesday to arrange the deal.
NoLandGrab: "Everybody wins?" Not quite. Despite Councilman Monserrate's one-time insistence that the City not use eminent domain, many Willets Point property owners haven't even begun negotiations with the City. With the project approved by the City Council, those property owners will have zero leverage when negotiating the sale of their properties, and if they don't want to sell, then what? Yup, eminent domain seizures.
As for Acorn's role, bringing them in to help oppose eminent domain is — based on their role with Atlantic Yards — a bit like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.
Posted by eric at November 13, 2008 10:09 AM